Taiwan’s summer of recalls has ended. Thirty-one Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators targeted across two waves of voting all remain in their seats. On paper, it was a decisive defeat for recall campaigners. In reality, the real recall Taiwan faces is not about removing individual lawmakers from their seats — it is whether people still recall why democracy matters.
The failure of the recalls was not unexpected. The threshold — one-quarter of eligible voters — was difficult to meet. After the defeats last month, the momentum had already dissipated.
What matters is what the results reveal: public frustration with politics, disengagement among younger voters and a sense that democratic tools no longer deliver change.
That should worry people more than who sits in the legislature. Democracy fatigue can be as dangerous as external threats, because it hollows out belief in the system from within.
One angle often overlooked is the actual balance of power. In Taiwan, the president and the Cabinet set direction, but the Legislative Yuan is no rubber stamp. It holds the budget, passes laws, and can stall or reshape government priorities.
The Legislative Yuan is among the most powerful legislatures in Asia. When the KMT-Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) bloc holds a majority, calling them the “opposition” is like calling the landlord a tenant — a distortion that hides where the real power lies.
So when people complain that nothing changes — on housing, wages or energy — the question must be asked fairly: What role is the legislature playing? What proposals are KMT or TPP legislators advancing?
If the opposition controls the legislature, they cannot simply be “critics.” They are co-owners of responsibility. If housing remains unaffordable, it is not just the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government that must answer. The lawmakers who block or fail to propose credible bills are equally accountable.
Dissatisfied young people must therefore ask harder questions. Blaming the establishment while placing blind hope in the “opposition” is far from enough. They should ask every party equally: What are you doing — not just what are you criticizing?
Housing prices, stagnant wages and limited opportunities are real concerns, but blaming only the DPP is too easy. If housing is unaffordable, what has the KMT proposed in the Legislative Yuan to fix it? If wages are low, what concrete bills have the TPP offered to raise them?
Since the new legislative session began in February last year, what have the KMT and TPP actually proposed? Not bills to lower housing costs or raise wages — but controversial measures that serve their own power interests.
Their “legislative reform bills” last year, which triggered the Bluebird movement, sought to expand lawmakers’ powers to summon officials and access classified documents, sparking fears of abuse.
Even more alarming, they pushed to shift authority over Taiwan’s territorial waters from the Ministry of National Defense to the Coast Guard Administration — a move critics warned would weaken national security at the very moment Chinese military threats are intensifying.
These are not policies that improve young people’s livelihoods — they are power grabs motivated by self-interest, designed to weaken the nation. Yet these lawmakers are keeping their seats.
Undeniably, housing is a complicated issue, but Taiwan is not trapped like Hong Kong or Singapore — it has land. With political will, the government can create more affordable housing and prevent speculation from devouring the dreams of the next generation. Singapore’s public housing system is one model worth studying — not to copy, but to learn how long-term planning and public investment can stabilize expectations.
When it comes to wages, the government cannot simply order salaries to rise without consequences, but it can shape the playing field. That means diversifying Taiwan’s economy so that more industries thrive and compete for young talent. For too long, Taiwan has leaned on the semiconductor industry. Chips give the nation strategic importance, but no country can sustain its youth on one industry alone.
If the DPP can deliver visible progress on biotech, green energy, digital innovation, culture and creative industries, then upward mobility would no longer be a dream — it would be a path.
Some say “resist China, protect Taiwan” has lost its resonance with younger voters. If true, that is alarming and must be addressed seriously. The ability to criticize the DPP, to mock the KMT or even to stay home from the polls are privileges that exist only because Taiwan remains free. The foundation is not the wallpaper. Without resisting China, every other issue collapses.
The recall campaigns are finished, but Taiwan still faces its real recall: Do we remember why democracy matters? If we forget, no petition or election would save us. If we remember — if we hold every party accountable, demand policies that create opportunities and defend the freedom that allows those demands to be made — then Taiwan’s democracy will not only survive, it will thrive.
John Cheng is a retired businessman from Hong Kong now living in Taiwan.
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